How HR Management Software Can Save Your Company Time and Money

We live in highly competitive times. The marketplace is a global one, there is a constant stream of new entrants, and the speed of innovation – and, obsolescence – is rapid as ever before! As a result, firms are constantly looking for methods to improve their efficiency, while cutting costs.  An important underlying factor in all this is the level of efficiency and productivity that your company achieves. Quite naturally, this is directly related to several elements. The use of leading HR Management Software is one such element. How, you ask? The software is a helpful tool that enables organizations to organize their HR processes, which in turn leads to an improvement in employee productivity, streamlining workstreams, and optimizing costs. This saves the company time and money. 1) Let’s look at some leading benefits of using HR Management Software: i) Automating HR processes: Perhaps, the topmost advantage of HR Management Software. Automating HR tasks would mean that routine tasks (resource-intensive, time-consuming) including attendance tracking, record management, leave management (etc.) could be automated, thereby freeing up the HR workforce to work on other high-value tasks. Another benefit of automation is that it ensures data accuracy, eliminates errors, and avoids duplication.  ii) Improves decision-making: Automation brings speed, real-time data availability, and the benefits of robust data analytics. All this contributes to improved decision-making.  Measuring performance, spotting trends, improving the allocation of resources, and managing your workforce better are just some areas where HR management software can help HR personnel make better decisions.  iii) Improves communication: By extension of the point above, a cornerstone of better decision-making is better communication. The HR software uses a centralized data platform, thereby enabling effective communication between employees and HR teams.  Sending notifications and reminders to employees, ensuring that important deliverables are met within the deadlines, and maintaining transparency in communication and data exchange are significant benefits of the software.  This also improves employee engagement and confidence, which in turn, results in improved productivity, and goes a long way toward bolstering the bottom line.   iv) Regulatory compliance and data security: The software can include self-checks such as configuration for required regulatory compliance, local labor laws, and rules for data security.  Strong security features such as access controls, data encryption, and data-backup facilities are just some benefits that HR Management Software offers.  v) Time tracking: This feature is particularly beneficial when firms employ various teams and people on contract, or on an hourly basis. Time tracking can be time-consuming, cumbersome, prone to errors, and comprises of numerous processes including making schedules, managing queries, and adhering to statutory compliances. HR Management Software automates these tasks, thereby cutting down on time taken while ensuring accuracy and avoiding costly errors. vi) Onboarding employees: Training and orientation of new employees can be done much faster and better with the software.  New employees receive pre-mandated digital templates that cover training materials, (e.g. videos, documents), set up online Q&As, and quicken the entire onboarding process without inordinate paperwork. This also frees up HR work hours for other tasks.   vii) Employee “self-service”: HR maintains a lot of information, often confidential, that employees may need periodically.  The HR Management Software offers a centralized, self-service portal so that workers can manage their needs anytime, from anywhere. Updating employee records, reviewing their compensation calculations, and refreshing their knowledge about company policies (etc.) empowers the workforce and improves efficiency.  viii) Improved efficiency: In a nutshell, HR Management Software helps companies improve their overall efficiency by constantly working to improve employee productivity and by controlling employee-related costs (a huge line item in overall company costs). 2) Case Study: How a growing company used HR Management Software to streamline its processes and reduce its wage payouts. Situation: Scripted Inc. is a rapidly growing content production studio. It produces web series for leading OTT platforms as well as films for theatrical releases. Headed by capable leadership, the company’s shows and films have met with both, critical and commercial success. However, at a recent core committee meeting to review annual financials, the CFO apprised them of below-par performance. He explained that while the topline was growing satisfactorily year-over-year, its margins were constantly under pressure due to inflated costs.  For a production studio like Scripted Inc. which employed large teams across payroll employees, part-time, and contract-based workers, their wage payout was unsustainably high. Additionally, there was overtime, employees working double shifts due to poor planning of worker requirements vs. worker availability, excessive travel bills, and cash-flow pressure that could be avoided. He also noted how the HR department was always overburdened with wage calculations, worker queries, and their resolution. As a result, there was always a frenetic, tension-filled atmosphere. Poor communication due to HR not receiving information on time added to the troubles. Solution: It was decided that the first task was to organize the company workforce, and an important step toward that was to implement an HR Management Software with robust features that streamlined processes, automated repetitive tasks, calculated the various wage bills, improved data accuracy, and freed-up HR personnel for other value-added tasks. A task force was formed with members of the company HR, the software vendor, and the finance controller. After, all saving time and money to improve company profitability was a company-wide activity that even the Business Heads were responsible for. Result: The HR Management Software was successful in streamlining and improving the numerous problems that Scripted Inc. was battling. Employees, contract workers, and freelance vendors were carefully mapped (tasks, deliverables, payment rates, and conditions, etc.), and their online profiles created

• With online data management, bill claims, and settlements, the timely and accurate wage payout emerged as a new strength of the company. Disputes were also solved quickly time since all parties involved had access to all the data, records, documents (etc.)

• At the next annual meeting, the CFO happily announced how their margins had improved, their wage bill reduced due to better employee management, and how the HR department was no longer overburdened with only execution tasks. They now had enough work hours to also look at strategies to improve the overall operations of the company workforce

Conclusion: HR Management Software enables companies to improve employee productivity, streamline HR tasks, improve communication, ensure compliance, and increase employee confidence and their happiness index at working in an organization. Be sure to select one that suits the specific needs of your organization. This will help your company to maximize its potential and meet its objectives successfully. Part-1 of the article (above) highlighted the top ways that HR Management Software saves a company time and money.  However, the process of selecting the HR software is also important. A judicious approach here will also save your company time and money. Otherwise, companies often land up buying what they don’t need even after spending considerable time and effort in selecting the software. This part of the article will focus on that. How can companies save money when purchasing HR software? Easier said than done, though, since selecting the correct HR Software for an organization isn’t an easy task! One needs to work under several constraints while making a decision, including budget limitations. To add to that, there are (literally!) hundreds of HR software to choose from, each with myriad features and options. Getting confused isn’t difficult, and making the wrong choice would cost you dear (and, not just monetarily)… ~~~   Are you following this checklist while selecting your HR Software?   ~~~

• Shortlisting your feature requirements 

• Comparing the available alternatives

• Using smart “workarounds”

• Considering open-source products available

In the second part of the article, let us look at some guidelines to make the correct choice when buying HR Management Software. Top guidelines: 1) Outline your features checklist This may sound rudimentary, but companies will trip up at this very starting point! Well, the onslaught of marketing and sales spiel is difficult to handle even for the best of us. Therefore, be sure to organize an internal team and outline – clearly – what your requirements are. Place them in buckets like Must-Have, Nice-to-Have (etc.). Essentially, come up with a robust list of “essential features”. Each will contribute to the price of the software. ~~~   Companies will often say they want a new HR Software because their current one “has too many features that aren’t being used”, or “their team members find it very difficult and cumbersome to operate!”   ~~~ Ask yourself the questions below when shortlisting your feature checklist.

• Does it have the essential features?

• What about those that are customizable? 
• What about 3rd party integrations? How much extra will they cost?

• Will bundling provide any savings?

2) Make a comparison chart with available alternatives Unless you create a comprehensive review chart and assess all alternatives, you would have missed the optimal balance between Features vs. Cost. Reviewing at least 5 vendors is a good practice and helps you arrive at the optimal choice.  Whether you start with a couple of front runners already in your sight (e.g. you saw it in a similar company and liked it) or whether you’re starting out without any preferences, you must conduct a robust comparative analysis. That is a non-negotiable requirement for arriving at the correct decision, and the one that will save your company time and money.  Some guidelines include:

• • Your business requirement: You require API (Application Programming Interface) integrations. This enables add-ons and upgrades when needed
  • Your business requirement: End-to-end employee management i.e. recruiting, performance management, human capital management (etc.). This feature assists HR teams to canvass, hire, engage, and retain their workforce. 
  • Your business requirement: A mobile-friendly interface, data visualization, and e-learning modules. Greatly improves access for all users, easy to use, and monitors daily progress.

• Your business requirement: A cost-effective solution for small business requirements or independent vendors to handle payroll, taxes (etc.)

3) Using “workarounds” i.e. mix-n-match, bundling: Well, your checklist of requirements won’t always be available off-the-shelf! However, by using workarounds or a judicious mix of features, you could work around that without breaking the bank. Some examples include:

• Need: Employee scheduling (workaround: A cloud-based solution that automates employee work schedules) 
• Need Training and employee certification. New recruits to be trained quickly (workaround: Learning Management feature. Saves managers time. Easy to use online courses and interface)

~~~   We all make “impulse purchases” that we regret thereafter! It happens with software purchases, too! Organizations often pay for expensive features that come bundled within the overall package without understanding whether they require it, or even what it really does   ~~~ 4) Open-source software: Such options are also available i.e. software with a source code that is freely available. Enables companies to develop customized HR solutions to match their requirements. While you may not get exactly what you want, it is a good way to get started. It also initiates your HR teams and employees into the software interface, modules, etc. It is particularly helpful for SMEs since they have limited workforces and often combine functions like admin and HR. You can also develop a sense of the customer service on offer. Once you’ve whet the software, you could purchase an upgrade. 5) Helpful tips: While buying software, buyers are always on the lookout for a good deal. Given below are some additional tips that would help:

• Be serious when taking free trials and demos: Make detailed notes and checklists while taking a trial or a demo. Ask questions about features, costs, employee training, customization costs, and development times. Include your team members that will ultimately use this HR software. This gives you a great understanding of timeliness, disruptions, costs, SLAs, etc.

• Bundling: Although mentioned above, this is the most important hack! List out all the features you require, figure out what you get for free, those that are available as core-offering, those that need customization, etc. This will help you lower your TCO (total cost of operations) and save company funds

• Check out software scalability: With the popular cloud-based solutions on offer today, this has become a strong feature for all top players. You could start with even a free model and upgrade as your requirements scale up. This ensures you pay only for what you need at that point in time and don’t overshoot on CapEx or pressurize your cash flow. Also, be sure to carefully understand the vendor’s policies on recurring licenses. Check for any possible hidden costs (e.g. hardware). 

Conclusion: To conclude, HR Management Software saves companies considerable time and money once put to efficient and suitable use. However, the process of saving money for the company begins even as you begin to select the software… Sign up for a Free Demo of Cyberium HR Management Software Now